Annual Conference for Media Relations Professionals

Faculty

Conference Chair

Menachem Wecker
Education Reporter
US News and World Report

Menachem Wecker is an education reporter at US News and World Report. Prior to joining US News and World Report, Wecker was a writer and editor at George Washington Today, The George Washington University's official online news source. He also co-founded the Association for Social Media and Higher Education at GW.

Before GW, Wecker, who holds a master's degree in art history from GW and a bachelor's degree in literature from Yeshiva University, was an editor at a national magazine based in Washington. He writes freelance articles and columns for several print and online publications, including The Houston Chronicle and Huffington Post and is an active blogger.

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Faculty

Steve Buttry
Director of Community Engagement
TBD

Steve Buttry is the director of community engagement for TBD, an online news operation that launched in August 2010, covering local news in the Washington metro area.

He has been an editor, reporter, writing coach, blogger and innovation coach for seven community and metro newspapers, most recently as editor of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was named Editor of the Year in February 2010 by Editor & Publisher magazine. He spent three years doing research, teaching and writing for the American Press Institute. He has pursued his journalism career in 43 states, eight Canadian provinces, Ireland, Venezuela, Mexico, Germany, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador and Siberia.

Buttry is a graduate of Texas Christian University, where he was inducted last year into the Hall of Excellence of the Schieffer School of Journalism.

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Michelle Sherrard
Director of Media Relations
George Washington University

Michelle Sherrard is the director of media relations at The George Washington University. As a principal spokesperson for the university, she is responsible for the development of media relations strategy for university announcements and leads the media relations team. She and her team develop and maintain relationships with local, national and international media and identify stories to share the George Washington story.

Sherrard has more than eight years of experience in media relations and corporate communications, including web and employee communication and marketing and corporate branding. She previously worked in media relations at the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public power provider.

She holds a bachelor's degree in speech and communication studies from Clemson University and a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University.

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Guest Speakers

Andrea Boyle
National Media Relations Coordinator
University of Delaware

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LiAnna Davis
Communications Associate, Public Policy Initiative
Wikimedia Foundation

LiAnna Davis is the communications associate for the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs the fifth most popular website in the world, Wikipedia. Davis' work centers around the Public Policy Initiative, a program that encourages university professors to integrate Wikipedia into the curriculum (see http://enwp.org/WP:USPP). She works with program participants to promote the work they're doing on Wikipedia to interested parties through electronic newsletters, presentations, social media and other outreach activities.

Davis' background is in communications and technology. She has written, edited and presented information for a variety of organizations, including nonprofits, universities, news media and consultants.

She has a master's degree in communication, culture and technology from Georgetown University and a bachelor's degree in communication studies from the University of Puget Sound.

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Ryan Dellolio
Web Program Manager and Adjunct Lecturer
George Washington University

Ryan Dellolio is web program manager and adjunct lecturer at George Washington University. An active member of the Association for Computing Machinery and the IEEE Standards Association, Dellolio has consulted for many leading organizations and their management. He spoke on a panel about Wikipedia at the last Annual Conference for Media Relations Professionals.

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Leah Finnegan
Editor
Huffington Post College

Leah Finnegan is the editor and co-founder of the Huffington Post's College section. A Columbia Journalism School dropout, she began her journalism career at the University of Texas' Daily Texan, which she edited from 2008–2009. She has written for the Morning News, the Columbia Journalism Review and the Texas Observer, and is the 2010 recipient of the Stan Swinton Scholarship from the Overseas Press Club Foundation.

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Lauren French
Editor In Chief
GW Hatchet

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Chip Griffin
Chief Digital Officer
DCI Group

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David Johnson
Assistant Professor of Communications
American University

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Jenna Johnson
Student Life and Culture Reporter
Washington Post

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Doug Lederman
Editor
Inside Higher Ed

Doug Lederman is one of the three founders of Inside Higher Ed. With Scott Jaschik, he leads the site's editorial operations, overseeing news content, opinion pieces, career advice, blogs and other features. He speaks widely about higher education, including on C-Span and National Public Radio and at meetings around the country, and his work has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, the Nieman Foundation Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, and the Princeton Alumni Weekly.

Lederman was managing editor of the Chronicle of Higher Education from 1999 to 2003. Before that, he had worked at the Chronicle since 1986 in a variety of roles, first as an athletics reporter and editor. His work won two National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association. He began his career as a news clerk at the New York Times.

He graduated in 1984 from Princeton University.

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Barbara Miller
Associate Dean, Elliott School of International Affairs
George Washington University

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Rachel Muir
Senior Editorial Director
George Washington University

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Eamon O’Connor
Editor In Chief
Georgetown Hoya

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Alyssa Rosenberg
Web Editor
Washingtonian

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Charlie Szold
Editor In Chief
AU Eagle

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Workshop Presenter

Teresa Valerio Parrot
Principal
TVP Communications

Teresa Valerio Parrot is the principal at TVP Communications. Previously, she led Widmeyer Communications' higher education practice and was vice president of media relations and crisis communications for SimpsonScarborough, a higher education consulting firm.

Valerio Parrot draws on extensive experience designing and implementing strategic media and marketing efforts aimed at enhancing institutions' image, reputation and brand. She has conducted numerous communications analyses for colleges and universities, developed and launched multiaudience research projects and is experienced in communicating the tactics and techniques that drive effective media and marketing outreach efforts.

A prolific keynote and conference session presenter, Valerio Parrot has spoken on behalf of Academic Impressions, ACE Fellows, AGB national conference and online speaker series, AIMHO, AMA, AASCU, CAAE, CASE Online Speaker Series and Districts I and IV, CCCU, Higher Education Hero, NAGAP, NAPAHE, NASPA, RMACRAO and United Educators webinar series.

She counts almost ten years of experience with the University of Colorado System, including an officer-level appointment as assistant secretary of the university. In addition, she served the Boulder campus chancellor as director of donor relations during the university's successful $1 billion fundraising campaign and served as special assistant to the system president.

Valerio Parrot earned a bachelor's degree in communications with a minor in environmental biology, and a master's degree in public administration with emphases in state and local government and nonprofit management, both from the University of Colorado.

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